The SRHS Story

In the fall of 2010, after nearly a year of extensive search, inquiries, and utilization of a nationally recognized consulting firm, the decision was made to choose Epic as the EHR for SRHS. Over 100 SRHS employees reviewed five vendor system during on-site demos held at MGCCC. The participants scored the vendors and, by far, the top-ranked vendor was Epic. The implementation of Epic is a cornerstone in our strategy to transform the care experience for patients, physicians and staff.

On January 11, 2011, the Singing River Health Board of Supervisors approved the project budget and timeline with a unanimous vote. Currently, the Clinical Information Technology Steering Committee is in the process of finalizing contracts and developing an implementation  plan.

Over the years, our institution has relied on a number of separate IT systems from different vendors to meet our clinical and administrative needs, resulting in challenges, both technical and cultural, around integration and effectiveness. Our transformation is more than just a replacement of systems and automation of processes; it is an exercise in cultural integration, which has unified our focus on the patient’s experience. By sharing in the design and use of a single tool, we exposed how we work together (and when we didn’t), and we forced ourselves to think in non-proprietary ways about what is best for our patients and the organization as a whole.

Change of this magnitude is never painless. We explored things that would have been easier to ignore. Sources of control, responsibility, and influence changed as work was redesigned and information became accessible to all. We are left with a new foundation for collaboration, shared accountability for technology, process, and outcomes, and the tools we need to adapt to a rapidly changing healthcare marketplace.

Adoption of a comprehensive EHR will quicken the pace of change at all levels of our institution and forge new levels of cooperation and collaboration between physicians, leaders and SRHS employees. Though the quantifiable benefits remain to be seen, we are confident in the adoption of these technologies to fulfill our mission: To Improve the Quality of Life in our Community.